Worst Place I Have Ever Lived
From:
-Anonymous-
Date posted:
5/13/2008
Years at this apartment:
2004
-
2008
Beaver Brook Gardens in Lincoln Park, NJ is the worst apartment complex I have ever lived in, and I have lived in 12 separate towns in NJ, plus California, Maryland and Connecticut. I strongly advise anyone considering living here to read this review and take it very seriously. I lived at BBG from 2004 to 2008 in a one-bedroom apartment. I will try to detail every aspect of my time there both positives and (many) negatives:
Staff: To their credit, the office staff was professional and I never had any problems with them. The maintenance staff was good and responded to all my requests promptly and with a friendly attitude. Anything broken was fixed in a day or two. They never entered my apartment without my permission, and cleaned up well after working there. However, they are not home professionals - i.e, the guy fixing your sink is not a plumber, the guy fixing your lights is not an electrician, etc. They are handymen at best. So...
Buildings: Date from before WWII (an old-timer told me this) and it shows. Small rooms, paper thin walls, ancient appliances include the a/c units. Old paint, floors, cracking bathroom tiles, small bath fixtures, absurd dimensions (like the toilet too close to the sink and door you had to squeeze in to get on it) shower controls didn't always work, stains and scratches on the hardwood floors, the list goes on and on. My feeling is the maintenance staff did the best they could with such old, small buildings and not much budget. They tried hard, but they can't make up for old construction and outdated appliances, electric, and plumbing.
Grounds: Look carefully and see they only maintain the ground facing the streets and near the rental office/main road. The grounds on the rear and side of buildings are rarely if every mowed or cleared of leaves. Decent job with snow removal but it took a lot of time even for a small storm.
Flooding: In a major storm/rainfall event, the complex will flood with the areas nearest Beaver Brook (buildings I and A) flooding the worst and gradually less severe north through the complex to Buildings L and K which stay dry. Water comes up into the garage areas/courtyards in the middle of the buildings and can reach several feet high, thereby flooding all the garages and destroying anything in them, including cars. Three times in my four years this happened; there are water marks on the drywall in the garages to prove this...take a look if you are there.
Rent & Utilities: Was increased by $15 each time I renewed my lease, without fail. I suppose this is to be expected, but they make you re-sign the lease one month before it expires, giving you little time to look for a new place. It is true, you only pay for electricity, gas and heat are included in the rent, but don't expect the heat to be turned on until November.
Pool: Was a nice feature, they kept it clean, but except for July and August it's only open on the weekends and usually filled with screaming kids.
Laundry: Each building has 3 washers and 2 dryers in the basement, coin-operated. Good luck finding an empty one on the weekends or in the evening. That is, if they're working at all.
Parking & Garages: No one parks in their garages, they only use the garages for storage (who can blame them, since the garages flood at least once a year) and most apartments have more than 1 car, so all of the surface parking spaces are taken. If you come home after 8 or 9 pm, good luck finding a spot. Also, get used to people parking where they're not supposed too, to make extra spots, including IN FRONT OF YOUR GARAGE that you pay for.
And finally, the worst part of living in BBG: the neighbors. The people living there are the absolute, most inconsiderate, rude, unkempt, loud, annoying, and hateful people I have ever found. Generally they fall into the category of people I would describe as "poor white trash". Although there are many immigrant families, students, older people, and single professionals living there, these 4 groups are generally fine to live around. It is the remainder of BBG residents who are the trash and cause all the problems. Just a sampling:
*Idling their trucks and motorcycles outside of your window, early in the morning, late in the evening, reving the motocycle engine so it's louder than thunder.
*Parking in front of your garage, effectively blocking you in or out of your apartment. This still went on after repeated complaints to the staff AND police.
*Letting their kids run wild throughout the complex, playing on your steps in front of your door and garage, in the stairways, laundry room, and courtyards. Kids and teenagers loitering, unsupervised, throughout the complex.
*Smoking in front of YOUR door or YOUR garage, in the aformentioned common areas.
*Creating unacceptable levels of noise at night AND during the day, playing loud music, screaming, yelling, arguing and so on.
*Leaving trash in the common areas and on the side of the trash dumpster (which was rarely full, they're just too lazy to toss it in)
*My favorite: I came home from work one evening about 6:00pm and a neighbor had his grill out and a picnic table & chairs, beverages, his friends & family were having a little barbeque...IN FRONT OF MY GARAGE! Why' So the smoke would go up into my windows and not his!!!
*My double favorite: Came home from work and a neighbor was sitting on the steps in front of our building...cleaning his gun.
Do your self a huge favor...stay the hell away from this place unless you want to experience everything I wrote here and more. And please take this seriously - ALL THESE THINGS ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
Best of luck in your search.
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